* scody was able to put a name to a phenomenon I've often wondered about: "Do not adopt a state of what I call "aggressive helplessness" where you expect that all information and tools will automatically be handed to you from the doctors and nurses..."

* And finally, to break rules concerning questions and number of favorites...I appreciate everyone's candid and compassionate answers to greenish's question, "Why Do I Think Things Have Feelings?"posted by MonkeyToes at 11:51 AM on January 6, 2011 [5 favorites]

How do people possibly remember this kind of stuff? Are your memories just fundamentally better than mine?posted by smackfu at 11:52 AM on January 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

yellowbinder, you're awesome. From your list, I can see your exact brand of funny. It's like you picked the comments that completely surround the little homunculus in your head pushing the button.posted by iamkimiam at 12:22 PM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

OK, that's three and I'm not through November yet.posted by muddgirl at 12:26 PM on January 6, 2011

MonkeyToes, how I wish I could favorite this line from that link: "The funny side of this is me giving an apologetic smile to the sandwich I put back down when I see another I'd prefer." And the next part is great too. I just picture the tree sagging a little, the fallen shoulders of overhearer's defeat.posted by iamkimiam at 12:30 PM on January 6, 2011

Gortuk's rant about about dude-bros and their bus sitting was very accurate and funny while hal_c_on poking a little fun at Microsoft proved I'm not the only one who always thinks about Friends when I hear about Bing. The rest of my favorites are really just someone quoting some pop-culture artifact that I also appreciate(d).posted by soelo at 12:51 PM on January 6, 2011

Three of my Favorites that have less than 10 Favorites to their names and made me giggle as I re-read them:

Favorites Hack: Use one of your favorites on this thread, then come back to it later when you have more favorites! Continue the process until you have favorited everything you need to favorite, then you can remove the original favorite. Or not! It's completely up to you! The hack works either way.posted by Eideteker at 2:14 PM on January 6, 2011

I mean, getting a genuine former Rolling Stone to refer to a MetaFilter thread as, "... a great discussion of the piece and the issues, and so many great lines. the patrick bateman crack hurts! and the overall level of knowledge and debate was incredibly high ..." well, that's pretty darned cool.posted by philip-random at 2:19 PM on January 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

It's probably strange to connect to this, but I really liked Xurando's description of giving CPR in an emergency. I had over the last year moved to a inpatient hospital floor that has more codes I really identified with his comment. I remember reading it after a particularly rough code on the unit, doing compressions to exhaustion, seeing them on the EKG monitor, then feeling overwhelmed when it's over. I was comforted by what Xurando said.

I'm comforted by a lot of metafilter comments. Sorry to be a downer in what's mostly a funny thread, but that comment is right on the mark in a concise way.posted by dog food sugar at 2:30 PM on January 6, 2011

grubi : The more we focus on NUMBERS, the more we lose sight of our original mandate: to terrorize villagers near shorelines and to trample cities.

Horace Rumpole : I told them fifteen years ago that we ought to just buy the kraken,

Eideteker : In this economic climate, I don't think we can afford to lease the kraken again for FY 2010-11. Have you thought about leasing a smaller monster, perhaps a land-based one?posted by quin at 2:36 PM on January 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

This beautifully timed comment by hermitosis made me laugh harder and longer than anything else on Metafilter since I delurked last May.posted by eugenen at 2:42 PM on January 6, 2011

How do people possibly remember this kind of stuff? Are your memories just fundamentally better than mine?

That was my first thought. And then I realized that this may be the excuse I didn't know I was looking for in order to stroll back through my favorited comments.posted by Forktine at 6:00 PM on January 6, 2011

hermitosis' awesome plastic surgery plans

Would like to update my plans from "Pegasus different" to "Black Swan different."posted by hermitosis at 6:05 PM on January 6, 2011

24 favorites is probably beyond the threshold for "overlooked," but I love this comment so much I'm posting it anyway. (May be worth reading the thread from the top for context.)posted by danb at 9:14 PM on January 6, 2011

I started favoriting comments in January last year for basically this reason, and I'm enjoying looking up all the things that got me at the right time:

JOKES

Ad hominem: it's still a flash mob if it is planned days in advance and they let the venue know? that sounds like a regular event to me. mhoye: In fairness, if Bo Diddley had is way, all his songs from all his albums would probably be called "Bo Diddley"cjorgensen: I disagree with everything Seth Godin says. I'd do this even if he told me I was right for disagreeing with him.enn: A typical day in the life of Stagger Lee:ROU_Xenophobe: on the dramatic potential of WW1GuyZero: a slice of the grosssexyrobot: A biochemist walks into a pubROU_Xenophobe: The best part of Twister.Metroid Baby: DID YOU KNOW?dng: One of my greatest fears is being in a well-lit house and...Damn that Television: Start a MeTa then.

FACTUAL

tel: It's important to remember that all scientific papers are opinion piecesdavejay: I always considered the only important line to be "because everybody hates a tourist"bookish: Man, that was like a punch to my former-fat-kid heart.The Whelk: The Cayce LookPowerful Religious Baby: People seem to think Tao Lin is easy to imitate, just by writing flatly or inserting ironic quotes, but their efforts usually fail, perhaps because they mistake a lack of affect for a lack of emotion.Threeway Handshake: there are fewer things I enjoy more than French food, but man, just because you're there doesn't mean you have to live up to some fake idea where its pan chocolate with a kir royal every morningDrastic: I used to defend the Signs monsters, by way of them not being aliens, but demons.scalefree: now that most users rarely use even a local terminal, it's a joke that's lost its reference point.keeleyellenmarie: on learning respirationgraventy: I think it's fair to say that Thriller would be a little under ten minutes long if it was made today.mattbucher: I emailed Ulrich Blumenbach to ask him why DFW wouldn't work with him and if this is typical of the authors he translates. Here's his reply (posted with his permission):cortex: the thing to do with the hellban concept is to step it up some idiopath: Leopard slugs, like many of us, get cravings after sex. For leopard slugs, that craving is usually the craving to eat a penis.

ADVICE

Nothing: The teenage years are when you learn the acceptable bounds of social interactionFaze: "Don't waste my time" is one of the ugliest, most narcissistic statements a human being can make.gjc Etiquette is about doing things in a way to NOT make others feel bad or uncomfortable. It is not a competition.Uniformitarianism Now!: I find that in an any given activity there are people who are there mainly because they like the activity, and people who are there because they like feeling superior to other people with regard to that particular activitymizu: Some paper mache tips that I learned in the line of fire that is art school:Tarumba: my favourite own question answerThatCanadianGirl: and a necessary response Greg Nog: a v. useful lifehacktipthepizzaguy: how to literally eat your hatempath: By definition, Mensa is going to bar 98% of the population, which is going to exclude almost every single person that I've learned something valuable from. Ashley801: There's a legal concept called adverse possession, where you can gradually acquire ownership of someone else's property without their consent and without paying them for it.mightygodking: Cascada understand that the purpose of good dance music is to hit you with a brick in the face called "the beat" and then, when you think you've heard everything they can offer, they hit you with another brick.Sidhedevil: inviting someone to speakLacking Subtlety: Everybody here should really shut the fuck up about trivializing "awareness."posted by rollick at 11:32 PM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

hermitosis confessed that he is robustly proud of even his worst posts.

MexicanYenta likened MetaFilter to an enormous family reunion where even the drunks and the drama queens have redeeming qualities. As for the pigheaded idiots, well, they can't help it.posted by amyms at 12:40 AM on January 7, 2011

Well, 85 favorites is nothing to sneeze at, but this comment has been echoing through my head since April 5th, 2010 and I am unable to shake it:

Ratio: A jawdropping feat of breadcraft! ... Hackariffic!jonmc: This wine should be served in a douchebag.pracowity: Don't leave the sheep alone in the boat or there'll be a muttony.carsonb: It's like, what can't masturbation do?Greg Nog: Fun fact: if you can eat it, it's not inedible!padraigin: When my kids ask me questions like this, I think to myself "What would Calvin's Dad do?" and respond accordingly. spicynuts: Is this something you'd have to understand to understand?weapons-grade pandemonium: I would not carrot all for this.The Whelk: Not every room needs to look like a cheap Thai Restaurant!oulipian: [William Carlos Williams parody that mentions Schroedinger]Hoopo: This Hirst sounds like a real douche-champ.surrendering monkey:English men failing to find the G-Spot? There's a surprise.posted by ostranenie at 9:13 PM on January 8, 2011

I don't have a list or anything, but the more I get into Bioshock (just got an XBox 360), the more I appreciate robocop is bleeding's comment on a post that I made.posted by Halloween Jack at 11:49 AM on January 12, 2011

Tags

Share

About MetaTalk

MetaTalk is the first spin-off subsite of MetaFilter and is designed as a space to talk about MetaFilter itself. MetaTalk is the place to discuss features, bugs, and issues of policy with the rest of the membership.